Naming and Shaming Victims: The Semantics of Victimhood

An aesthetics of the human: Peru’s Ojo que Llora memorial

“…As Mijke de Waardt (2016: 432) has argued, identifying the victims is a central task for nations engaged in transitional justice processes after violent conflict. The need to formulate and enact reparations programs aimed at helping victims overcome mass human rights violations would seem axiomatic.…”

“…The need to formulate and enact reparations programs aimed at helping victims overcome mass human rights violations would seem axiomatic. But, for societies facing politically divisive transitions, precise definitions of ‘victim’ are often difficult to establish, resulting in differing or even opposing interpretations of victimhood that frequently lead to controversy (De Waardt, 2016; Laplante, 2009; Moffett, 2016). ‘The simple fact of having experienced adversity’, writes De Waardt (2016: 433), ‘is a necessary but insufficient condition for being classified as a “victim”.’ Notions of victimhood are also social constructs bound up in legal, political, institutional, and personal discourses.…”

“…But, for societies facing politically divisive transitions, precise definitions of ‘victim’ are often difficult to establish, resulting in differing or even opposing interpretations of victimhood that frequently lead to controversy (De Waardt, 2016; Laplante, 2009; Moffett, 2016). ‘The simple fact of having experienced adversity’, writes De Waardt (2016: 433), ‘is a necessary but insufficient condition for being classified as a “victim”.’ Notions of victimhood are also social constructs bound up in legal, political, institutional, and personal discourses. As such, they are subject to ‘social and political negotiations about what victimhood is’, frequently resulting in unequal hierarchies of victims (De Waardt, 2016: 434; McEvoy and McConnachie, 2012).…”

“…‘The simple fact of having experienced adversity’, writes De Waardt (2016: 433), ‘is a necessary but insufficient condition for being classified as a “victim”.’ Notions of victimhood are also social constructs bound up in legal, political, institutional, and personal discourses. As such, they are subject to ‘social and political negotiations about what victimhood is’, frequently resulting in unequal hierarchies of victims (De Waardt, 2016: 434; McEvoy and McConnachie, 2012).…”

“…Early definitions from 1986–1989 labeled those targeted by subversive groups as victims without referring to specific rights. During the 1990s, the State gradually shifted from linking victim status to perpetrators, to connecting it to particular experiences of victimization such as internal displacement (De Waardt, 2016: 436). Not until the internal conflict had ended, and Fujimori’s regime had collapsed, was a comprehensive official definition of victim drawn up.…”